Tom Konrad, editor at Altenergystocks.com and an investor in Lime, blogs about the company at Forbes.com. He says he has decided to hold on to the stock for now, although he considers the announcement serious. He says recording revenue before it is actually received is a worrisome practice, but the real red flag is the possibility that some of the revenue figures may have been made up.

“Anytime there are fictitious books, it is very serious,” he says. “Then you have to worry about the quality of management.”

The company is worth less than investors have been calculating. But Konrad says he believes the current book value is between $1.40 and $1.70 per share — which means at a dollar, investors are getting it a significant discount.

The full amount of the misstatement is not yet known, he notes. And there will clearly be lawsuits. “The money to defend those doesn’t come from management; it comes from shareholders,” Konrad says.

As of Wednesday afternoon, at least nine law firms across the country had announced they were launching investigations, not an uncommon response when earnings restatements occur.

Lime says it discovered problems during a partial internal review conducted by the company’s management, which concluded July 13. The board has since retained independent accountants BDO USA to perform a complete audit.

Lime spokeswoman Ashley Conger says the company does not know when the independent review will be complete. She says no one has been dismissed from Lime over the discrepancy.

The company says until the review is complete it cannot make a “reliable estimate” of the incorrectly reported revenue.

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